He Catalan Transit Service (SCT) filed 758,659 fines for speeding throughout the country last year, that is, an average of a penalty every 42 seconds. The amount claimed by the authority from the offenders in total reached 83 million euros. The figures are similar to the average of the last ten years, according to SCT data obtained by the ACN.
In statements to EL PERIÓDICO, the coordinator of Seguretat Vial of the SCT, Oscar Llatje, recalled that the radars began to be installed in Catalonia in 2003. It was a decision that was taken inspired by the strategy previously implemented in other European countries. And the result has been positive. “At first, the criticism that they were placed to collect was a clamor, but now that interpretation is in the minority,” he reasons.
Llatje reasons that the 200 radars in operation have caused a reduction in serious accidents ranging between 60% and 80%. If it is observed that a radar does not prevent accidents, its location is reconsidered, it maintains. The coordinator also underlines that the decision to install a radar is always taken after verifying that at a point on the road there are citizens who are dying or suffering serious injuries. “People understand that for safety, speed has to be limited.”
The most active
The section of the AP-7 between uldecona and amposta (Montsià) and the one on the C-31 in castle d’Aro (Baix Empordà) are those who they fine Catalonia more. According to the same data, both radars hunted almost 60,000 drivers last year eachwhich has resulted in fines that, overall, exceed 13 million euros (MEUR). On average, every day both one radar and another reach photograph about 160 vehicles that exceed speed limits.
The radar section of the motorway in Terres de l’Ebre is, in fact, the one that most fined in all of Catalonia. Located in a northerly direction, it put up 59,036 sanctions during 2022which translated into figures add up to an amount of 6.6 million euros.
Behind this one, the other radar that fines the most has already become a classic. It is the one found on the C-31 in a northerly direction, just after the exit that leads to s’Agaró and Castell d’Aro. Here, the speed limit is 80 km/h and, during 2022, it imposed 57,927 sanctions (which, translated in euros, add up to 6.52 million euros). And, in fact, if you look at the history, speeding tickets at this point in the Baix Empordà have not stopped growing in the last five years. In 2021, with that radar, 44,293 sanctions were filed. In 2020, in the midst of the pandemic, the figure was 27,349; in 2019, 22,434; and in 2018, 16,401.
Many occasional drivers go through the most penalizing radars
The one on the AP-7, in the direction of Barcelona, and the one on the C-31, in the direction of Palamós, are the ones that have detected the most offenders in the last ten years, between 2013 and 2022, with 469,281 and 368,490 sanctions , respectively.
The Road Safety coordinator of the SCT, Oscar Llatje, justifies the incidence. They are “highways, very straight roads”, with a “very comfortable driving”, which lowers the feeling of driving at high speed. In the case of the AP-7, between kilometers 343 and 325, it is added that there is a sign for the start of the section radar, but not a final one. This circumstance, which is “expressly made”, according to Llatje, causes a “certain component of relaxation” after a few kilometers of entering, which leads to infractions for some drivers.
200 deaths a year due to road accidents, 400 less than in the year 2000
Llatje defends the usefulness of the cinemometers at these points, arguing that the one on the AP-7 has reduced accidents with deaths or serious injuries by 79.5% in the 18-kilometre section, while in the three kilometers surrounding the the C-31, the reduction is 93.5%
In fact, he believes that the accusations of tax collection are already “residual” and that the reduction in the accident rate where there are radars can rise to 80% “if the radar is set up correctly.” Overall, he recalls that in 2000 there were about 600 deaths a year due to traffic accidents, and now the figures are around 200.
The podium of most penalizing radars in 2022 is completed by the old cinemometer of the C-17 in Centelles, in the Barcelona direction, with 36,099 fines and 3.8 million in penalties. In Osona, another stands out, located on the same road at the height of Seva -in this case, in the Vic direction- which last year caught 21,656 offenders, with fines totaling 2.24 million euros.
Precisely, at the beginning of last year, the change in the speed limit from 100 km/h to 80 km/h caught many drivers off guard and resulted in numerous complaints due to the avalanche of fines that reached them. At this point, between Aiguafreda and Tagamanent, Trànsit activated a new section radar in summer. Counting both directions, here the cameras installed in the porticos that cross the road issued 13,680 fines (for a value of 1.39 million euros).
Exceeding the line of 20,000 fines per year
Apart from these radars, there are four others in Catalonia that last year exceeded the line of 20,000 fines. They are those of the AP-2 in Albi (Les Garrigues) with 22,994 sanctions amounting to 2.68 MEUR; that of the C-31 in Calonge (Baix Empordà), located precisely a few kilometers from Castell d’Aro in the same direction, which totaled 22,948 fines worth 2.6 million euros, that of the AP-7 motorway in L’Ametlla de Mar (Baix Ebre), with 20,822 speed fines and a global amount of 2.49 MEUR, and that of the C-31 in Badalona (Barcelonès), northbound, with 20,636 fines and 2.32 MEUR required.
On the contrary, on the other side of the scale are those radars that fine the least in the country. According to the statistics, during 2022 there were three cinemometers that did not reach one hundred annual penalties. They are the section radar of the C-66 in Sant Joan de Mollet (Gironès) in the direction of Corçà (Baix Empordà) with 52 fines; the one on the N-260 in El Pont de Bar (Alt Urgell) with 69 penalties, and the one on the B-124 in Castellar del Vallès (Vallès Occidental) with only 10 fines.
In the 10 years between 2013 and 2022, the one on the AP-7 at the height of Amposta leads the ranking, (469,281 fines), followed by the one on the C-31 in Castell d’Aro (368,490), the one on the C-31 in Badalona (207,170), one on the AP-7 near Ulldecona towards Valencia (203,933) and the one on the AP-2 in Albi (173,857).
Almost 40% of the amounts of 2022, still pending collection
However, the process for collecting penalties depends on different factors. From the outset, the fine is notified to the owner of the vehicle (who is not always the person behind the wheel). A period is then opened that extends up to 45 days before the executive phase is entered, which can end in an embargo. If the penalty is paid within the first 20, there is a 50% discount. Laje specifies that there are several circumstances that slow down or end up preventing payment of the corresponding amounts, such as resources, which may be winners, “slow processing”, the death of the offender or “fines that prescribe”. In addition, when the executive phase is reached, Economy is taken care of and the Traffic statistic is not computed as collected.
It should also be taken into account whether the driver is a foreigner or not, which can lengthen the procedure and end in nothing. Llatje comments that, for years, an external company hired by the Generalitat is the one that focuses on getting residents in other EU countries to pay the charges derived from the infractions, although it takes “between one and two years” for the contest is pending award.
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As the Government specified as a result of a parliamentary question last June, regardless of the year in which the file was opened, during 2022 the amount collected for speeding fines was 59,442,796 euros. However, according to the Traffic data, as of this August, the amount paid by drivers for infractions in 2022 so far is 25 MEUR, far from the 83.2 MEUR imposed, and they are considered pending. 32.1 million euros (38.6%). Currently, the Catalan road network authority is also waiting to collect 31.9% of the amount of 2021 files, 26% referring to 2020, and between 13% and 21% for the years 2013 to 2019. In total, 841.7 MEUR have been claimed for the 7,603,871 fines imposed throughout the decade, the outstanding amount being 21.3%.
Dynamic speed control, the future
On the other hand, Òscar Llatje says that every year there is a project to add more radars, “to five or six locations”, but sometimes this is not possible with the efficiency they would like due to the “administrative processes” involved and the supply of electricity for the device, which is often located in “remote” locations. However, he makes it clear that it is not a fundamental problem, since “the money from the speed cameras is going to put new speed cameras”, among other road safety initiatives. He also points out that both now and in the coming years, “dynamic control” will gain strength, that is, detection of speeding in a more flexible way than fixed speed cameras. For example, with the police, “air means such as drones or helicopters”, or mobile radars without the need for agents. In his opinion, “pedagogy” is needed so that drivers know that “they must always comply”, and not only when there is a cinemometer. “It seems like off the radar, it’s a ‘do what you want,'” he adds.